Alexander J. Fedirko

Region: Midwest

Website: http://www.alexfedirko.com

City / State: Grosse Pointe Park, MI

I use photographs as mnemonic tools to visually reenter previously visited places within my painting practice. The act of painting attempts to domesticate these photographs and liberate the preexisting compositional elements of line, shape and pattern for visual consumption.

These images are places that are impossible to paint on site (the top of a building, an airplane window, or inside a car) and they require the work to be done in a studio. Like a cartographer I first document the site, and then I carefully observe the photo for a rhythmic underlying structure that will act as the blueprint for the paintings. I try to remove as much clutter as possible, leaving only the essential information, thus revealing the most economical solution for the painting’s success. Through the use of a monochromatic palette I’m able to further reduce the surface to a cohesive compositional layout, resulting in a series of linear elements and forms that visually move through and beyond the painted edges. I consider my paintings to be techno-inspired landscapes that lyrically connect man and machine.